Faltering
by dearbluebrid
Summary: In which Sakura has amnesia after the Great Shinobi War, and she can remember everything but her love for Sasuke Uchiha. Angry, nearly dead, and lying on a hospital bed, Sakura tries to turn her face from the man she once loved. It's strange how his heart flourished with a feeling he did not know existed, while hers, the exact opposite— faltering. OneShot. SasuSaku.


One Shot.

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'So, you're really back? Wow, I bet you choose to stay here because our sentencing law is light.' She whispered.

'Sakura—,'

'Save it Sasuke. I don't want to deal with anyone today, please... not today. Not now.' Her hair was sprawled messily around her pillow like a halo around her face. The harsh hospital lighting accentuated her deep and dark eye bags, which seemed so pronounced.

Her dull green-grey eyes looked at him.

_He loved those eyes more than anything in the world. _

'You should have been more careful.' He said, leaning down, and pulling up a chair next to her. His mouth wanted to run like hot water—_I missed you, don't leave me again, You're all I have, Sakura I—_

But all that he could muster was

'Hn, so clumsy.'

It was strange really, how steady and unfluctuating Sakura's breaths had been the entire time. Now, she only carried hatred in her heart, and her undying love for him died in stone a long time ago. She couldn't pick out if she wanted to dig for that love once again.

'I said I don't want to hear it.' She whispered, trying to her turn her face over. A summer breeze fluttered by and lifted their selves of their arms, and Sakura's pinky-white hair danced around her.

They stayed silent for a while, watching Sakura's hair dance in the wind.

She felt like reaching out to him—as if she wanted to touch his face and run her sleek fingers through his hair, but for some reason she didn't want to. She couldn't. The familiarity was there, but her mind betrayed her.

'Tell me about Konoha.' She said, finally speaking up. 'What happened after the war?'

This was a question he couldn't answer. So he said nothing, and looked away from those pleading jade eyes he loved so _so _much.

He was quiet. Not because of annoyance, but because of a loss for words. He was like that most of the time, really.

'We won, of course, and some died as a cost for war.' Because in a war, nobody wins.

'Tell me who died.' She demanded.

'Sakura, it's not the time for that…' He said, meeting her glare once again.

'I want to know.'

Her monitor beeped—

'I can't tell you.'

'Tell me.' She demanded, grasping his hand. Suddenly a thousand bolts of electric filled chidoris rushed through his body, hitting ever spot, and every nerve. The familiarity of her trace lingered on his skin, and he deeply exhaled. His mouth wanted to run like a run-away freight train, and he wanted to tell her all the things that he had to face without her.

_Like Naruto's death, _

He kept his hand there, for her to linger purposely. 'What do you remember?' He replied.

_Or Lee's sacrifice,_

'Feeling like death on the battle field. And then, a big white flash.' She sighed musically.

_Or Tsunades promise to—_

'No.' He said. 'I mean, what do you remember between us?'

—_make an Uchiha Hokage. _

Sakura turned her head to look at him. She had felt nothing but hatred, and sadness and pain in her heart, but for some reason… she couldn't shake it out…but for some reason she felt like she loved him. Maybe she did. But that was… probably just a friendship sort of love. Just sincere worry for the familiar face.

'I remember you leaving. Betraying our team, and how angry I was. Then you, fighting with Naruto against Madara. And then, me, face down on the earth.'

_He wanted to tell her so many things. _

_Like how his heart cried when he saw she was struck,_

_Or how his body trembled when Kakashi died_

_Or the faint expression of sadness on Naruto's dying face,_

And it was going to come out now… his mouth was going to run and her heart would sink the way it always did. And he was sinking too— like walking out into the sea with anchors chained to him. Because she didn't remember that she loved him once, and that hurt. Avengers have the softest of hearts.

_He wanted to tell her that she was all he had left…_

'Why didn't you call for help Sakura? Or get out of the way? You could have died out there… You're so stupid sometimes.'

_How he had nobody now…_

'You think I want to be stupid and clumsy? It's not my fault. I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to die. I didn't want to be weak. I still have so many plans in my life. Still so many regrets in my heart…and you? What about you, huh? Don't you ever…'

_And he really wanted to tell her how much she—_

'I love you… Sakura.'

—_meant the entire world to him. _


End file.
